Cooling apparatus

ABSTRACT

The cooling apparatus includes: a liquid storage tank receiving and storing a liquid; a. cooling pipe taking heat from the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank to cool the liquid; a refrigerating cycle supplying a low pressure refrigerant gas to the cooling pipe; and a fluid flow guiding unit installed within the liquid storage tank, preventing a liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank from being mixed with a liquid which has been previously introduced to be cooled in the liquid storage tank, and guiding the water such that the water sequentially flows to an outlet of the liquid storage tank. 
     The fluid flow guiding unit includes a supporter placed along an internal central portion of the liquid storage tank; and a spiral plate installed along an outer circumferential surface of the supporter to guide the liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank to sequentially flow toward the outlet.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2011-0037490 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Apr. 21, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus and, more particularly, to a rapid cooling system in which a cooled liquid stored in a liquid storage tank and a liquid introduced to the liquid storage tank are guided to sequentially flow to an exit, without being mixed, to thus maximize cooling efficiency.

(b) Description of the Related Art

In general, a water purifier that purifies water upon receiving tap water, or a chiller/heater that supplies spring water sold in a particular container such that it can be used is configured to cool or heat water to a certain temperature so as to be used.

Also, in business establishments, when a certain amount of beverages or alcohols such as draft beer is taken to a cup or a glass and sold, the beverages or alcohols are sold after being cooled to have a certain temperature.

In this manner, in order to cool a liquid such as water, beverages, alcohols, or the like, to have a certain temperature, a liquid storage tank and a cooling apparatus re provided.

The liquid storage tank includes a inlet formed to allow a liquid to be input therethrough and a discharge hole allowing a liquid stored in the liquid storage tank to be discharged to the outside, and a liquid stored in the liquid storage tank is cooled to have a certain temperature through the cooling apparatus.

A cock is installed at the discharge hole to discharge the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank so as to be used, and when a certain amount of the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank is consumed, a new liquid may be supplied to the inlet.

However, the related art cooling system has the following problem. That is, when a liquid is introduced into the liquid storage tank through the inlet, the introduced liquid is mixed with the cooled liquid stored in the liquid storage tank, increasing the temperature of the liquid, so a user may use a liquid which is not cooled.

Also, when the introduced liquid is mixed with the stored liquid in the liquid storage tank, cooling efficiency is degraded.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a rapid cooling system having advantages of guiding a new liquid, which is supplied to a liquid storage tank, to be sequentially discharged without being mixed with a cooled liquid storage in a liquid storage tank.

Also, the present invention provides a rapid cooling system having the advantages of maximizing cooling efficiency of a liquid stored in a liquid storage tank.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a rapid cooling system including:

a liquid storage tank receiving and storing a liquid; a cooling pipe taking heat from the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank to cool the liquid; a refrigerating cycle supplying a low pressure refrigerant gas to the cooling pipe;

and a fluid flow guiding unit installed within the liquid storage tank, preventing a liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank from being mixed with a liquid which has been previously introduced to be cooled in the liquid storage tank, and guiding the water such that the water sequentially flows to an outlet of the liquid storage tank.

The fluid flow guiding unit includes a supporter placed along an internal central portion of the liquid storage tank; and a spiral plate installed along an outer circumferential surface of the supporter to guide the liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank to sequentially flow toward the outlet.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in the rapid cooling system, a liquid introduced to the liquid storage tank is not mixed with a liquid which has been previously introduced to be cooled in the liquid storage tank, and sequentially stored, maintaining excellent cooling efficiency.

Also, the liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank is guided to be sequentially flow toward the outlet and cooled, whereby a user can constantly use the completely cooled liquid.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view showing the structure of a major part of a rapid cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are views showing the rapid cooling system in which a supply pipeline and a discharge pipe like are disposed differently according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a refrigerating cycle provided to the rapid cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the structure of a major part of a rapid cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2 and 3 are views showing the rapid cooling system in which a supply pipeline and a discharge pipe like are disposed differently according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A rapid cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a filter unit 10 filtering a foreign material in a liquid supplied from various liquid supply devices (not shown), a liquid storage tank 20 receiving the liquid which has passed through the filter unit 10 and storing the same, a cooling pipe 30 heat-exchanging with the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 20 to cool the liquid within the liquid storage tank 20, and a refrigerating cycle supplying a low pressure refrigerant gas to the cooling pipe 30.

As shown in FIG. 4, as the refrigerating cycle used as a cooling unit, a general refrigerating cycle circulating a refrigerant through a compressor 32, a condenser 34, an expansion valve 36, and an evaporator may be used, and in the present embodiment, the cooling pipe 30 is an evaporator.

Of course, any other types of cycles may also be used as the refrigerating cycle, and in the present embodiment, any refrigerating cycle may be used so long as an evaporator thereof is configured as a thin pipe.

In the above, the liquid introduced to the liquid storage tank 20 is described as water such as purified water, mineral water, or the like, but the present invention is not limited thereto and the liquid may be a beverage or alcohols.

A inlet pipe line L1 through which a liquid is supplied and a outlet pipe line L2 through which a liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 20 is discharged to the outside are connected to the liquid storage tank 20. A cock C is installed at one side of the outlet pipe line L2 to control discharging of a liquid.

An end portion 22 of the inlet pipe line L1 and an end portion 24 of the outlet pipe line L2 are positioned within the liquid storage tank 20. The end portions 22 and 24 are disposed in the mutually opposite directions within the liquid storage tank 20 to lengthen the distance along which the liquid supplied into the liquid storage tank 20 moves toward the outlet pipe line L2.

Namely, as can be understood from FIG. 1, the end portion 22 of the inlet pipe line L1 is positioned at a lower end portion within the liquid storage tank 20, and the end portion 24 of the outlet pipe line L2 is positioned at an upper end portion within the liquid storage tank 20, whereby the distance along which the liquid coming from the end portion 22 reaches the end portion 24 is lengthened.

As shown in FIG. 2, even when the end portion 22 of the inlet pipe line L1 is positioned at an inner upper end portion of the liquid storage tank 20 and the end portion 24 of the outlet pipe line L2 is positioned at an inner lower end portion of the liquid storage tank 20, the movement distance of the liquid as shown in FIG. 1 can be lengthened.

The inlet pipe line L1 and the outlet pipe line L2 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 have a structure of entering from the upper portion of the liquid storage tank 20, but as shown in FIG. 3, even when the inlet pipe line L1 is entered from the lower portion of the liquid storage tank 20 and the end portion 22 is positioned at the inner lower end portion of the liquid storage tank 20, the same effect as those of FIGS. 1 and 2 can be obtained.

In the structure illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, since the end portion 22 of the inlet pipe line L1 is positioned at the inner lower end portion of the liquid storage tank 20 and the end portion 24 of the outlet pipe line L2 is positioned at the inner upper end portion of the liquid storage tank 20, a liquid has an upward flow; the liquid flows from the inner lower end portion of the liquid storage tank 20 to the upper end portion of the liquid storage tank 20.

Meanwhile, in the structure illustrated in FIG. 2, since the end portion 22 of the inlet pipe line L1 is positioned at the inner upper end portion of the liquid storage tank 20 and the end portion 24 of the outlet pipe line L2 is positioned at the inner lower end portion of the liquid storage tank 20, the flow of the liquid is a downward flow; the liquid flows from an upper side to a lower side within the liquid storage tank 20.

The cooling pipe 30 used as a heat exchange unit of the refrigerating cycle is wound in a spiral form on an outer face of the liquid storage tank 20, thus further increasing the effect of heat exchanging with the liquids of the liquid storage tank 20.

In general, as the refrigerating cycle illustrated in FIG. 4, a refrigerating closing cycle, which includes a compressor 32 compressing a refrigerant into a high temperature high pressure gas, a condenser 34 receiving the gaseous refrigerant compressed in the compressor 32 and condensing it into a liquefied refrigerant, an expansion valve 36 lowering the pressure of the refrigerant so that the condensed refrigerant can be easily evaporated, and an evaporator receiving the refrigerant from the expansion valve 36 and absorbing ambient heat, may be used.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a fluid flow guiding unit is additionally provided to prevent a liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank 20 through the inlet pipe line L1 from being mixed with the liquid which has been introduced into the liquid storage tank 20 and cooled, and guide the liquid to sequentially flow toward the outlet 24 of the outlet pipe line L2 connected to the liquid storage tank 20.

The fluid flow guiding unit includes a supporter 40 placed along an internal central portion of the liquid storage tank 20, and a spiral plate 42 formed along an outer circumferential surface of the supporter 40 to guide the liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank 20 to sequentially flow toward the outlet 24.

The supporter 40 is positioned in a lengthwise direction within the liquid storage tank 20, and in a state in which a lower end portion of the supporter 40 is spaced apart from the bottom of the liquid storage tank 20, an upper end portion thereof is fixed to the liquid storage tank 20.

The interior of the supporter 40 is formed as a space to allow the inlet pipe line L1 or the outlet pipe line L2 to be inserted thereinto.

Preferably, the outlet pipe line L2 is formed such that a portion, of the outlet pipe line L2, extending to the outside of the liquid storage tank 20 has a minimum length.

The respective end portions 22 and 24 of the inlet pipe line L1 and the outlet pipe line L2 according to the present embodiment may have a shape of being bent toward the inner face of the liquid storage tank 20.

In the drawing, reference letter L3 denotes a drain pipe, and 50 is an ice layer formed as the liquid within the liquid storage tank 20 is frozen according to a cooling operation through the cooling pipe 30.

In the foregoing rapid cooling system according to an embodiment of the present invention, when a liquid such as water, a beverage, alcohols, or the like, is supplied through the inlet pipe line L1, the liquid is discharged from the inlet 22 so as to be introduced into the liquid storage tank 20.

At the same time, as the refrigerating cycle operates, the refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 32 to have a high temperature and high pressure, cooled by the condenser 34 so as to be changed into a low temperature liquid refrigerant, and then, supplied to the cooling pipe 30 by way of the expansion valve 36.

Then, the refrigerant, passing through the cooling pipe 30 wound in a spiral form, takes heat from the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 20, performing heat exchanging, to cool the liquid of the liquid storage tank 20.

This process may be repeated performed to cool the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 20 to have a certain temperature, and in this case, as the cooling operation is continuously performed, the liquid in the liquid storage tank 20 is frozen to form the ice layer 50 having a certain thickness on an inner wall of the liquid storage tank 20.

The refrigerant evaporated through heat exchanging is returned to the compressor 32 through the end portion of the cooling pipe 30, repeating the foregoing process.

The cooled liquid stored in the liquid storage tank 20 may be discharged by using the cock C installed at an end portion of the outlet pipe line L2 so as to be used, and here, when a certain amount of the cooled liquid is used, a liquid by the used amount may be supplied to the liquid storage tank 20 through the inlet pipe line L1. Here, in order to charge a liquid, the user may manually open the valve to charge a liquid, or various types of automatic charging units may be used.

In the case of the apparatus according to the embedment of FIG. 1, the room temperature liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank 20 is supplied to the inner lower end portion of the liquid storage tank 20.

Thus, the liquid within the liquid storage tank 20 is charged by the liquid supplied to the lower end portion of the liquid storage tank 20, and here, the supplied liquid is not immediately mixed with the cooled liquid within the liquid storage tank 20 due to the spiral plate 42 in terms of the liquid flow.

Namely, the room temperature liquid supplied through the end portion 22 of the inlet pipe line L1 is mixed with the liquid previously supplied to be positioned at the lower end portion in the liquid storage tank 20, but the mixed liquid moves, forming a spiral movement path along the spiral plate 42, rather than immediately moving upward.

In this manner, the liquid having the spiral flow along the spiral plate 42 within the liquid storage tank 20 is brought into contact with the ice layer 50 formed on the inner face of the liquid storage tank 20, moving upward.

When the liquid moves from the lower end portion to reach the upper end portion within the liquid storage tank 20 according to the upward flow, the temperature of the moved liquid is rapidly lowered.

And, as shown in FIG. 2, when the end portion 22 of the inlet pipe line L1 is at the inner upper end portion within the liquid storage tank 20, the liquid coming from the end portion 22 is mixed with the liquid present at the upper end portion within the liquid storage tank 20, and in this case, the cock C is opened to discharge water within the liquid storage tank 20. Then, since water present at the lower end portion within the liquid storage tank 20 starts to be discharged, the liquid supplied from the end portion 22 flows downward, forming a downward flow.

In this manner, the liquid having the downward flow forms a spiral flow along the spiral plate 42 within the liquid storage tank 20, and also in this case, the liquid having the downward flow comes into contact with the ice layer 50 formed on the inner face of the liquid storage tank 20, so the liquid moving from the upper end portion to reach the lower end portion within the liquid storage tank 20 is cooled and discharged through the end portion 24 of the outlet pipe line L2

Thus, the liquid discharged through the end portion 24 of the outlet pipe line L2 is a completely cooled liquid, and in particular, the liquid, which is not cooled and starts to be introduced into the liquid storage tank 20, is guided to sequentially move so as to be discharged by the fluid flow guiding unit, rather than being immediately mixed with the cooled liquid present in the liquid storage tank 20, thus maximizing the cooling efficiency of the liquid.

As described above, in the liquid cooling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, since the liquid which has been previously supplied and cooled and the newly supplied liquid are not immediately mixed on the whole, the cooling efficiency of the already cooled liquid is not degraded. In addition, in the process of discharging the supplied liquid, since the liquid has a spiral flow while coming into contact with the ice layer within the liquid storage tank and has an upward or downward flow, although new water is supplied, water discharged through the outlet pipe line is cooled water all the time, and thus, user's satisfaction can be further enhanced.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

<Description of symbols> 10: filter unit 20: liquid storage tank 22: inlet 24: outlet 30: cooling pipe  2: compressor 34: condenser 36: expansion valve 40: supporter 42: spiral plate 50: ice layer L1: inlet pipe line L2: outlet pipe line L3: drain pipe 

1. A cooling apparatus comprising: a liquid storage tank having an internal space for storing a liquid; an inlet pipe line supplying a liquid to the interior of the liquid storage tank, and an outlet pipe line for discharging water supplied to the liquid storage tank; a cooling unit taking heat from the liquid stored in the liquid storage tank to cool the liquid; and a fluid flow guiding unit installed within the liquid storage tank, preventing a liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank from being mixed with a liquid which has been previously introduced to be cooled in the liquid storage tank on the whole, and guiding the water such that the water sequentially flows to an outlet of the liquid storage tank.
 2. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fluid flow guiding unit includes a supporter placed along an internal central portion of the liquid storage tank; and a spiral plate installed along an outer circumferential surface of the supporter to guide the liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank to sequentially flow toward the outlet.
 3. The cooling apparatus of claim 2, wherein a pipe line is insertedly positioned within the supporter in order to supply a liquid to the interior of the liquid storage tank or discharge the liquid from the liquid storage tank.
 4. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cooling unit is a refrigerating cycle having a cooling pipe wound in a form of coil in the liquid storage tank.
 5. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the liquid introduced into the liquid storage tank is any one of water, a beverage, and alcohols.
 6. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein an end portion of the inlet pipe line is positioned at a lower end within the liquid storage tank, and an end portion of the outlet pipe line is positioned at an upper end of the liquid storage tank.
 7. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the end portion of the inlet pipe line is positioned at the upper end within the liquid storage tank, and the end portion of the outlet pipe line is positioned at the lower end of the liquid storage tank.
 8. The cooling apparatus of claim 7, wherein the end portions of the inlet pipe line and the outlet pipe line are bent toward an inner face of the liquid storage tank.
 9. The cooling apparatus of claim 1, wherein a filter unit is provided in the inlet pipe line. 